ellington live: Queenie Pie Eyed

We are at present engaged in research into Duke Ellington's 'street opera' Queenie Pie which remained unfinished at his death in May 1974.

A major contributor to the process of completing a version of Ellington's last work which came closest to his original vision is Marc T. Gaspard Bolin.

In April 2009, Dr Bolin addressed a conference at University of Texas on the process of working with the 'fragments' of the opera which Ellington had left. We are presently trying to track down a copy of the paper he wrote on this, Realizing The Duke.

Until then, here is a blog entry Dr Bolin wrote which comprised a transcription of the address he gave at the 2009 conference.

No copyright infringement is intended, the copyright remaining of course with Marc T. Gaspar Bolin. The source for this post is here.

Below is an unedited transcript of the presentation Realizing the Duke I gave recently at the Echoes of Ellington Conference University of Texas Butler School of Music. A run of Duke Ellington’s Queenie Pie, which I was the arranger, was the centrepiece of this musicological conference. Only a portion of the presentation is available here as I have a forthcoming paper where you’ll be able to read all I know on the subject of Duke Ellington and his romance with Opera as a genre.

Good afternoon everyone.

My name is Marc Bolin. I don’t expect anyone to have heard my name before – except for those who are into the British rock band T-Rex, who burst onto the charts in the 60’s with songs like Hot Love and Get It On, and whose lead singer and I just happen to share a name.

I was asked to speak here today because I share, with all of you, a particular affinity toward Duke Ellington and his music. But — more to point, my perspective is unique in that – I have a very —- personal relationship with the Duke and, in particular — his music.

In the fall of 2007, I was asked to realize Duke Ellington’s unfinished opera, Queenie Pie. And, by realizing, I mean: finishing the opera – picking up where he left off… continuing his legacy.

I had spoken to Tom Dean (the Owner and Founding Director of Oakland Opera,) and had expressed interest in the project, but when the moment was upon me, when Tom asked if I would realize Queenie Pie, I felt dreadfully ill equipped for the task. Certainly I recognized the learning potential of this project, and, by accepting the commission, I would be afforded the listening and transcribing time needed to achieve my own long-term goals even still, the thought of not fulfilling the potential of Duke’s music loomed over me as does the Chiristian’s fear of God!

Ultimately, I was awarded the commission, and completed the score in April of 2007 (which included the needed additions of: an Overture, an Entr’acte, Underscoring, Bows and other thematic material). The opera was subsequently performed from May 9th through May 25th of that same year.

It’s been two years now since I completed the score, and I continue to learn every single day through Duke’s music.

Two weeks ago, these arrangements where heard again as I conducted an un-staged, concert version of Queenie Pie at UCLA in a weekend of free public concerts that were part of the Friends of Jazz celebration of the Duke, which was produced by Kenny Burrell.

We will all hear these arrangements this weekend as the Butler Schools treatment is based on Oakland Opera’s production which is of course, these same arrangements and orchestrations.

As it stands today, Oakland Opera’s treatment is the first and only published score of the complete opera Queenie Pie.

My purpose in this presentation is to provide a comprehensive history of Duke Ellington’s Queenie Pie, that clarifies its convoluted history leading to Oakland Opera’s production in May of 2008, to document the process of realizing and arranging Ellington’s stillborn opera and to provide a foundation for further erudition.

Presented are insights gained through research of the Ellington collection from the Smithsonian Institute annotations from the study and transcription from Ellington’s oeuvre and the steps taken to assemble the scattered manuscript.

I will highlight my perspective and experience as the arranger, and, more importantly, the empirical that I have knowledge gained through the process of realizing a large-scale operatic work, conceived but never completed by America’s most prolific and highly regarded composer Edward Kennedy Ellington.

Please note that for the sake of narrative flow, I will not be giving a blow-by-blow analysis of Queenie Pie. In my forthcoming article, I will be able to go in-depth about some of the topics, that I barely seem to scratch the surface here. You see, the saga of Queenie Pie is a seeming taradiddle in itself, awash with details, rumors, false claims and unanswered questions.

It is my hope, that this paper will help to demystify this opera’s diary without spoiling the fun of the search.

The Book and the Score

Ellington would refer to Queenie Pie as an opéra comique, since the narrative was to be advanced primarily through song and recitative. He would also call Queenie Pie a street opera, and others still, a folk opera.

This particular mixture of words or labels and the search for how to best describe Queenie Pie — suggests that, — while the work has its popular elements, it has very serious artistic aims as well.

This duality was at the core of Ellington’s modus operandi and would pervade throughout his body of work.

Duke would spend his entire life looking for ways to better represent the new sounds of his fellow African-Americans whose music was yet to be considered equal among the more serious music of the European concert tradition.

Of the score, what remained could be referred to as “pieces of a score.”

I estimate that ninety-five percent of the melodies and lyrics and about twenty-five percent of the piano score were completed, — no orchestration and a minimum of arrangement ideas were available. Although, every note that Mr. Ellington wrote is here in the music. I tried my best to complete the ideas that Mr. Ellington had initiated and, as for the libretto, it was nowhere near complete enough to ascertain where? or even how? the drama would unfold.

Harkening back on cliff-hanger TV shows…I will end this post here. You will just have to wait until my paper is published to read the rest of this story!!!